Schools, universities and other education charities are being invited to submit their establishment to be considered for a lab makeover worth up to £3,500. Farnell element14 has also partnered with Keysight to support the competition by giving away five InfiniVision 1000 X-Series Oscilloscopes worth over £600 each to the winning organisation to be used in their newly refurbished lab space.

Farnell element14 has launched the initiative as it recognises that the right environment and equipment is vital to give students the tools and support they need make the right start in their engineering careers.

As the Development Distributor, Farnell element14 works with leading brands and start-ups to develop new products for market, sponsors ‘startupbootcamp IoT’, an innovation accelerator, and provides a forum for engineers to share ideas and projects through its leading element14 Community.

Peter Birks, European Business President, Farnell element14, said:

“At Farnell element14 we are committed to introducing young people into the world of coding and helping them on their learning journey from education to maker to professional engineer. We do this in so many ways – right from manufacturing coding devices that spark an interest in coding from a young age, to supporting next steps as an official manufacturer of two of the most popular maker boards in the world, Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black.

“In education, we provide guidance and support through online resources available from the STEM Academy and our widely used element14 Community which has over 440,000 members. Right here in the UK, we work with Leeds Beckett University, providing access to our lab facilities for project work as well as an accredited module for their Electronics degree course. This competition recognises the strong engineering heritage we have the in UK, and the importance of investing in education to ensure that this continues.”

Farnell element14 is part of the Premier Farnell group of businesses, a global technology leader with over 80 years in the high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance and repair. Premier Farnell uses this experience to support its broad customer base, from hobbyists to engineers, maintenance engineers and buyers as ‘The Development Distributor’, working with leading brands and start-ups to develop new products for market, and supporting the industry as it seeks to develop the current and next generation of engineers.

Premier Farnell focuses its offering around four core customer journeys:

Education to Maker – Premier Farnell is an official manufacturer of two of the most popular Maker Boards, Raspberry Pi and Beaglebone Black, and exclusive manufacturer of educational programming boards such as the BBC micro:bit and Codebug. Customers are supported through element14.com, the largest online engineering and maker community, also providing support to educators and parents through its new STEM space.

Research and Design Services - Premier Farnell is the No.1 for Development Kits, having worked with the world’s leading Semiconductor companies to design and manufacture their latest development boards in house. A deep understanding and design knowledge of the latest Semiconductor Devices available also supports Premier Farnell’s broader design assistance offering, providing a similar service to customers of all sizes who are seeking additional engineering support.

Design through to Production – Premier Farnell provides an entire solution for design to manufacturing customers, with the broadest range of Semiconductor and Passive inventory available, a world class line card, same day despatch, a strong board level Interconnect proposition and growing Electromechanical proposition. In addition, it has the technical support capabilities to meet all customers’ needs, from simple cross-reference to complex design.

Bench to Board – Premier Farnell offers one of the industry’s broadest ranges of Test & Measurement equipment and a leading line card for all Tool & Production supplies supporting customers from the testing of initial designs to delivering essential maintenance activity to keep their operations running.

Premier Farnell is a business unit of Avnet Electronics Marketing, the components operating group of Avnet, Inc., (NYSE:AVT). Premier Farnell trades as Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America, and element14 throughout Asia Pacific. The Premier Farnell Group is supported by a global supply chain of more than 3,500 suppliers and has an extensive inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet the needs of innovative customers everywhere.

Key facts:

Operations in 38 countries and 43 local language transactional websites

More than 3,500 leading suppliers

More than 650,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand